Have you been sitting around in your comfy pants since the holidays wondering how you are going to get your head out of the sand and back on the road to healthy meal habits for you and your family? The beginning of a new year is a great time to revisit your goals, and put some practices into place to help you reach those goals.

Healthful eating can mean different things, but we believe the most important element is planning. Creating healthy habits takes some effort, there’s no doubt about it, but with some mindful planning you can get there.

Want to know our top two suggestions for getting you on the right track? Read on.

Big Batch Cooking:

What if you chose one day out of the month to shop for healthy ingredients and cook them up for some big batch cooking. This involves devoting several hours to meal preparation so that meals are conveniently ready when you need them.

Big Batch Cooking

It means making big batches and freezing them in meal-size portions so you can pull out easy-to-reheat lunches and dinners. It takes the thinking out making healthy choices when you need a ready-made meal. Not only is this method a time-saver, but it’s more economical too!

Here are some tips to remember as you start implementing regular big batch cook days:

Choose recipes that are conducive to cooking in large quantity and freezing. Need some ideas? Consult with manjya!

Have the right containers on hand that are appropriate for the meal size you’ll want later.

Use containers or bags that are easy to label. Write the date on your frozen food portion. You’ll want to reheat most foods by the third or fourth month at the latest.

Rotate the placement of foods in the freezer so that you’re eating the oldest ones first. First in, first out. Always.

Always cool foods properly before freezing to help retain flavor and ward off growth of bacteria, and then thaw foods properly properly before heating. Need some help with ideal ways to cool and thaw food? manjya can help!

Meal planning can be a time and money saver!

Big Batch Cooking isn’t complicated, but it also isn’t for everyone. We understand if this isn’t how you want to spend one day out of your month. Which brings us to our second suggestion. Working with a personal chef from manjya.

Hiring a Personal Chef:

We know you lead a busy life. You’re juggling work, family, friends and other obligations. With so much on your plate wouldn’t it be nice to take the chore of cooking meals out of the equation?

Hiring a personal chef is a great choice for many people. Whether you don’t know how to cook, you don’t have time to cook, you’re tired of take out, you’re done with feeding yourself and your loved ones out of a box, or you have more enjoyable things you want to spend your spare time doing, a personal chef just might be the answer.

Meals prepared by a personal chef can be a big time-saver. When you have meals in your freezer from a personal chef, all the work is done for you. Your personal chef has already done the grocery shopping, already prepared healthy meals that you planned together (taking your dietary preferences into account), packaged and labelled them with re-heating instructions and left them in your fridge or freezer for you to use when you need some extra help. Usually within 20-30 minutes you can have a healthy meal on the table. How awesome is that?

Meals from a personal chef are surprisingly affordable. Think about what you spend on take out, at the drive-thru, making trips to the grocery store, not to mention the value of your time spent preparing your meals. Think too about how much food is wasted sitting in your fridge spoiling before you have the time to use it. A personal chef is actually cost effective, and could save you money.

Would you like to learn more about hiring a personal chef from manjya?

About Manjya

Manjya, In partnership with the Canadian Personal Chef Association, is helping people hold an event, follow a diet or just eat healthy exactly the way you want it. Submit a request for what you want, when and where you want it and let the bidding begin.